[ JAPANESE / ENGLISH ]

Photos courtesy of DGK
Special thanks_Charlie Trading

VHSMAG (V)：　Thanks for doing this interview. What have you been up to lately?

Marquise henry (M)：　Just laying low. Skating here and there. I've got a project I'm working on with New Balance for a shoe colorway. So I've been going to an old stomping ground skate spot that I used to skate when I was a kid, Chaffey High School. I'm working on that with a couple of homies, long time friends. Hopefully it'd be out in the next year, sometime.

V：　So you grew up skating at Chaffey. Who were some of your influences growing up back in the day?

M：　I'm influenced by a lot of pros that came through Chaffey. Gershon Mosley, James Craig, Richard Mulder, Joey Suriel, Chris Cole... I've seen all of them come through and just do crazy ass tricks. I was probably like 14 or 15 at the time. It definitely played a big part of influence on my skateboarding and life.

V：　A lot of ledge skating there, that's pretty much what you skate now too.

M：　Yeah, for sure. And I mean, the east coast too. Stevie and Kalis... the list goes on. I got so many favorite pro skaters, you know what I'm saying? I take a little bit from each one.

V：　What's the COVID situation like right now in LA? Is it still going through lockdown?

M：　Stuff is starting to open slowly. Majority of the things are open, but you got to wear a mask every time you're going into the store and stuff like that. It's kind of crazy downtown. Stuff is still kind of closed down and boarded up a little bit. But for the most part it's slowly opening up.

V：　So you're not stuck at home or anything like that.

M：　I couldn't even be stuck at home if they forced me, man. I got to get out. Shit. For real.
 

 

V：　So your DGK part "Beatbox" just came out. Was it filmed during COVID?

M：　Actually it's been done for about six months now. All last year I was filming for it. And then it was up and down because we were going through filmers. So I was just trying to get it done in between time.

V：　I noticed a lot of the spots are in LA rather than traveling around the world.

M：　It was definitely hard for sure. Because most of the street spots out here are blown out, and everybody's going to skate at the same skate spots and stuff like that. But I mean, I made the best of it. Probably just went back to a lot of the same spots and just did different things that I wanted to try, and I just kept pushing.

V：　When you work on a part, do you have a list of the tricks you want to do or you just go with the flow?

M：　I guess, yeah, you could say I have some tricks in my head that I kind of put together. It can be a certain trick that I've done in the past, but I add a different variation to it. And then there are definitely some new tricks that I'm trying. And if I get them, I get them. You know how that goes. Sometimes it's a struggle. But yeah, I definitely have a mental note of certain tricks I want to go and try at certain spots.

V：　What's your all time favorite part?

M：　I have to say Stevie, DC part. Keenan Milton, Mouse part. Eric Koston, Yeah Right! Kareem Campbell, Trilogy. Guy Mariano, Video Days... There's a bunch more.

 

 

V：　I liked that you used a Channel Live track for your part. That brought back a lot of memories.

M：　Yeah, man. That's a wild one. I heard the track a while back, but I was like, "Damn, it goes good." It's a powerful track so I'm definitely rocking with it. I feel it fits my style too. You know, being raised in the 90s and coming up in that era of skateboarding. So it kind of works perfect.

V：　What's the trick from the part that you're most stoked on?

M：　I have to say my last trick. I went back maybe three or four times for that. And I work man, got broke off so many times.

V：　Was there any trick that you tried but didn't work out?

M：　Yeah. I had a couple. I was trying nollie heel crooks on a rail... and it's a pretty high rail. Maybe for the next project I'm getting that trick in there. Also I was trying a fakie treflip front nose, but I just couldn't get it. And then there's a few other ones.

V：　What about that pop shove-it nosegrind nollie heel out? Your homies were super stoked in the background.

M：　That's one of the tricks I'm stoked to get. I went there maybe three or four times. And they were with me every time we went there. When I did it, I was hella hyped, like "Damn, all right. One down, keep it rockin'." Plus, I had never done that trick. In previous stuff I did a pop shove-it nosegrind nollie flip, so I wanted to switch it up and do a heelflip. And it worked out. And then it's crazy. Right after I landed that trick and maybe a week went by, we went back and the spot was done.

V：　Spots aren't there forever. You got to get it while you can.

M：　Hell yeah. So I was like, "Damn. I think I got the last trick on it."

 

 

V：　Dope. So how do you feel now that the part is done?

M：　I'm hyped, man. I feel accomplished. Another part down and shit. I'm just ready for the people to see it and ready for it to be out there to the public and shit. And I'm already working on this New Balance project and keeping it moving. I got to stay busy, especially right now with all this shit going on.

V：　Speaking of New Balance, You have a shoe called NM420. Can you talk about that?

M：　It's a remake of the 420. I was skating the re-engineered 420. They kind of upgraded the 420 and but it was still a runner and it wasn't in the Numeric skate line. I was skating it and I told Levi and Sebastian, "Shit, I just want to keep skating that shoe. Let's see if we can make a Numeric shoe of it?" And then we just went with it and got the mold of the sole. They showed me three different soles and I picked one. We ran with it and it turned into what it is now. Now for every campaign they have a colorway, and I'm the face of it to promote it. So what I'm doing with this whole Chaffey project, we're doing a whole colorway campaign for it. And show the history of Chaffey and myself growing up there and the whole backdrop.

V：　That's going to be sick.

M：　Hopefully, we got some dope stuff, man. A lot of my friends came through. We've got some cool stuff going down.

V：　I noticed you use synthetic suede for that shoe.

M：　Oh yeah. It's crazy because I didn't even know too much of the material, but a lot of vegans started hitting up the chats saying like, "Damn, hell yeah!" I was like, "Damn, that's what's up." It just worked out like that.

V：　Yeah, I thought that was intentional, you being vegan or something.

M：　No, I'm not vegan. I don't eat too much meat though. I eat fish but I try to stay away from red meat, pork, beef, all that.

V：　So your DGK part is out and you have a new New Balance project. Besides that, is there anything in the works?

M：　I've been working on a little clothing brand called 36FIVE. I got it in my crib right now. Some pants, shorts, hats and stuff like that. I'm trying to get it together and maybe launch it in the next month or two.

V：　Sounds like you're really a productive guy, constantly working on stuff.

M：　Yeah, man, I try to for sure. I got to stay busy. That's why I like to travel. I just got to be doing something. And I like to be in different places, see different cultures and meet new people. Hopefully I'll make it out there to Japan soon.

V：　Thanks again for doing this interview.

M：　For sure. Peace.

 

Marquise Henry
@marquisehenry

Born in the Inland Empire, California in 1985. He's known for his flip-in/flip-out technical tricks. He skates for DGK and New Balance Numeric.